The Last Gambit
by hpboy111
Summary: A new journey has begun. A new team, new adventures, same old problems. Jiriya Uzumaki, Suma Nara, and Tatsuki Sasagawa have recently become Genin. Together the three of them work to beome the best team in the history of the Leaf. See prologue for more.
1. Prologue

During a mission to transport medicine to small village on the outskirts of the Land of Fire they find themselves pulled into a situation far to great for them to handle. Bonds of freindship, unwavering determination, and some unexpected interference keep them alive throughout this whole ordeal. A mystery years in the making, old faces, new freinds, and greater heights await these three as they uncover the secrets behind Orochimaru's final plan begins to take root years after his death.

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Please rate and comment, I accept all forms of criticism. And each reveiw will help me to improve the story.

Prologue

"Hey, what's your name!" A girl with shoulder length black hair and stunning green eyes walked over to my little corner. She was followed by a boy with flat blonde hair and deep blue eyes.

"Jiriya," I said. I spoke quietly. Deciding it was best not to say much until I began to understand this girl.

"That's a weird name." she commented.

"Yeah, well I bet yours isn't any better!"

"It is. Tatsuki Sasagwa. And this is Suma Nara." She pointed to the boy behind her. "We were wondering if you wanted to be friends."

This wasn't an invitation, it was a statement. My first thought was that I was lucky to run into someone as smart as myself on the first day. She was testing me for my response, just like I would have if our positions were reversed. So I responded, "Why don't you become my friends instead."

Tatsuki stared at me, and then let out a small laugh. "In your dreams, I asked you."

"But you didn't ask me anything. All you did was make a statement."

Tatsuki let out a small laugh again. "You're good to have caught that. Then, how about I make it a real invitation. What do you say?"

"I say that my offer still stands."

"Are you seriously challenging me here?" She walked closer so that we were almost face to face.

"Maybe."

She continued to stand there, unmoving and unblinking. I stared back. It lasted for what felt like minutes. Two hands pushed us apart and someone wedged in between us. It was Suma. "Why don't you both just accept the others deal. If this is about dominance, then decide it at another time. And if you don't want to be friends, just say so."

We both stared at him. He shrank away. "Just trying to help," he muttered.

"I think we should listen to him. Otherwise any chance of becoming friends will die right here, and we'll just see each other as stubborn fools." I attempted a smile.

Tatsuki smiled back. "Fine," she said. We shook hands and then she said, "We're even. For now at least." All three of us smiled.

On that day, and during our first week, we all felt relieved to find someone who was fine with the way we were. I was scared to show off my smarts and extensive vocabulary. Tatsuki was afraid everybody would think of here as a hotheaded delinquent. Some still do, myself included. And Suma didn't know if we could make any friends with his quiet disposition. The three of us, each with our own worries and problems, found the others. And with that fateful meeting, we began what seemed like a harmless journey through our school and life, but would eventually culminate in a series of events that none of us could have predicted.

With happy hearts we started, not knowing the trials and tribulations we would go through to reach the end of this journey.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

4 years later

"Target is two meters to your left and 9 centimeters down. Piercing advised, trees obstruct passage of bolt. No wind interference."

Tatsuki adjusted her crossbow to the required coordinates. The bolt began to glow a light turquoise color. She pulled the trigger and the bolt sprung forward, flying through three trees on its path to the target. It punctured the neck and buried itself in the ground 30 feet behind the target.

"Well?" Tatsuki asked.

"Well what?" I replied, hiding a smile.

"Did I hit the target you idiot!" she yelled. "I don't have those eyes, that's why you're the one giving me instructions on where to shoot!"

I sighed, trying not to laugh. "At a range of 200 feet, you hit the target square through the neck. It was a great shot."

"Thank you. Now, how's Suma doing?"

I scanned the area in the direction that Suma had headed. I picked up four people. Three were unconscious; the other was leaning against a tree. "He did fine," I told her. "He knocked them out, probably long before we hit the target."

"They're gonna be pissed when they wake up."

"Yeah, but I think we can live with that. After all, you already have so many people trying to kill you, that you should hire a body guard." This was a comment on the fact that she got on peoples nerves a lot. I turned on my mike. "Suma, can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear," he replied.

"Target dispatched, no interference thanks to you. But why did you knock them out. Now we have to carry them back to base."

"Don't worry, they'll be awake by the time you catch up with me."

"If you say so." I turned to Tatsuki, "Pack your stuff and let's get going." She quickly folded up her crossbow and we were on our way. We reached Suma in under five minutes, and he was right. The others were already waking up.

Jordan began complaining as soon as he could speak. "That was a cheap trick!" he shouted. "Sending him to delay us," he pointed at Suma, "While you guys took down the target. It was unfair and we didn't even stand a chance!"

I sighed. "Jordan, the objective was to be the first team to take down the target. All we did was split up and use our talents where they were best."

Jordan rolled his eyes and grumbled. His team left. And we began to follow. "Well, good work on a job well done. This makes us the top team in the school."

"Yep, after all, we've never lost a match. Thanks to your Byakugan, my shadow bind jutstu, and Tatsuki's long range fighting style, we always get the target long before the opponent gets near it."

"Yeah. Come on, let's head back."

The three of us started up a sprint. We made it back to the base within ten minutes, and we were showering within fifteen. After that we headed to the auditorium. There were nineteen other teams in the room. The symbols of the teams in the room had two distinct types. The first was the symbol of the leaf that represented our village. The second was the hourglass that represented the Village Hidden in the Sand. They were here for a joint training exercise. It was set up tournament style, and we had just made it to the finals.

I walked over to the board. There was a man standing next to it. "Excuse me." I said.

"Oh, Jiriya! How are you doing? Won your match I assume?"

"Yep, we're on to the finals."

"Congrats. I'll mark it down, and you can begin preparing for the final match."

"Thank you sir." I walked back towards Tatsuki and Suma. The people in the room were all Genin. We were the only first year Genin to make it to the semifinals, and now the finals. This was a great day because if we won, I could brag about it to my parents, and to the rest of my graduating class. Of course, a victory would just add to the size of Tatsuki's ego, but there wasn't much I could do about that.

We waited patiently for the final results of the other semi finals match. Tatsuki started up a conversation with one of her friends that I didn't know, Suma was reading, so I decided to go distract myself. "Call me when the results are in," I told Suma. He nodded and I walked off.

I left the building, headed away from the training area. I didn't really know what I wanted to do; I was just walking to distract myself.

"Why are you not at the training grounds? I thought there was a joint training session today?"

I turned around and saw a man with wild brown hair, feral eyes, and what I always assumed was war paint on his face. "Hello Mr. Inuzukza. Yes there is a session today. My squad just finished our semi finals round. They said they'd radio me when the finals were going to begin."

"Oh, well in that case good luck to you. And say hi to your mother for me. I only got back from a mission recently so I haven't gotten to talk to anybody in a while."

"Not a problem."

"See you then." And he walked off. That was Kiba Inuzuka, a friend of my parents, although not really a 'friend' of my dad, they get kind of competitive.

My headset crackled. "Jiriya get over here quick. Results are in, looks like we're going against Sand squad 3."

"That's a shame." I said. I know squad 6's style, I would have preferred to fight them."

"Yeah, but we've got someone else so we're gonna deal with them like we would any other."

"Yep. Be there in a minute."

I started running for the training grounds. It took me two minutes to get there. By the time I did, Tatsuki and Suma were ready to go. "Where's our starting point?" I asked.

"Location 7," Suma said.

"Okay. Usual strategy?"

"Yep."

"Okay, let's go."

We moved out for our starting location. We got there in three minutes. We had two more before the match started. "Byakugan!" I stared at the tree's surrounding us. "I found them. They're at location 2. Suma, the moment the siren blares, head for the intersection of paths 2 and 3. That's their most likely route; I'll redirect you as necessary from there."

"Got it."

"Tatsuki, the target is two miles to the north west from our position. Be ready to move immediately."

"I know, you don't need to tell me."

We waited. The seconds ticked past until, "HOOOOOOOOOOONK!" the siren sounded. We all moved instantly, confident we had this in the bag.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Tatsuki and I launched ourselves to the left, Suma ran straight ahead. We leaped from tree to tree, making our way to the target. When we were only 200 feet from the target, we stopped in a large tree with lots of cover.

The radio crackled, "Jiriya, they're not here. Find them for me."

I scanned the trees in his direction. I found Suma, and I searched for the Sand squad. They hadn't moved. "Suma, they haven't moved from their starting point, check on them, but don't get seen."

"Roger."

Tatsuki took out her crossbow and began setting it up. When the bolt was in I started to say, "4 meters to the ri…"

"They aren't there! Just some form of clone!" Suma shouted into the mike.

"Tatsuki, hold, be ready." I started to scan the entire training grounds. They were nowhere to be seen. "They're stealth experts, we have no idea where they are, and they could pop up at any time. Great."

"Okay Tatsuki, 4 meters to the right, 2 centimeters up, pierce and area, just to be safe."

The bolt glowed a strange purple color, and she fired it. I followed its progress. It suddenly stopped in mid flight, then exploded.

"What happened?" Tatsuki asked me.

"They grabbed the bolt out of the air. They were waiting for us to make the first move, they were probably afraid that we were lying in wait. So they decided to do it and wait for us. When you fired the bolt, they saw where we are, and stopped so that it wouldn't hit the target. I had you infuse fire element chakra into the bolt so that if they did try something, it would explode in their face."

"Oh."

"Hear that Suma?"

"Yeah. I'll get over as soon as I can."

"We can count on one of them being injured but we don't know any of their capabilities, and we still can't see them. Just be ready for anything."

Tatsuki loaded another bolt, and I began preparations for casting a genjutsu, one of my most powerful.

"Advance slowly." We jumped to the ground and began a cautious walk towards the target. It was still about 200 feet away, but we didn't know where the opponents were.

"They are probably going to ignore us and go straight for the target. I'm going to make a break for it. Cover me." Tatsuki nodded. We may not get along very well, but when it came to battle, we never disputed superiority. I knew what was happening, she didn't. I was in charge.

I ran. I made it about fifteen feet when the bushes rustled. From the bushes to my right, something jumped out. I couldn't see it so I knew it was one of them. I stopped, clapped my hands together, and thrust them in the direction that the enemy was coming from. Something solid collided with my hands.

As an inheritor of the Byakugan, I went through all of the training that a member of the Hyuga family did. Using the knowledge of the Gental Fist technique, I developed my own style that used the technique to over whelm someone's chakra system and gain complete control over the opponents senses, chakra flow, and train of thought. This gave my Genjutsu a large variety of applications. The only disadvantage is that because this particular form, (I can also use normal Genjutsu, although it isn't as good), is that I need physical contact with the person I'm using it on.

The person I hit fell to the ground with a thud. His cloak disappeared, but I didn't stay to see what he looked like. He would be out of it for several minutes. I continued my sprint towards the target.

When I was within 20 feet of it, I heard someone shout, "You're too late!" A boy about a year older than me appeared out of nowhere. He had a kunai in his hand and he was bringing it up to slice through the dummy.

I heard something whizz past my ear, then a scream of pain. The boy had dropped his kunai, and there was a bolt imbedded in his arm. It glowed a faint a green color. I smiled. "Thanks Tatsuki!"

"No problem!" She shouted back. I ran up to the dummy, brought back my palm, and thrust it into the chest of the dummy. The siren blared again, and the match was over.

"Sorry about that." I said to the boy from the Sand. "You need to back to the base camp and have your arm fixed up. You won't be able to move for a while, and I don't suppose any of your other team members will either. Where's the one who got hit by the explosion?"

I saw the guys eyes dart to a point behind me. I walked over to that point and saw him lying on the ground; he was burned pretty badly. "Tatsuki, could you use your emergency flare." Tatsuki nodded and pulled out a small rocket. She lit it with a lighter she always kept in her tool kit. It flew up into the sky and burst into a shower of red sparks. With a signal set, we started worrying about bandaging up what we could.

Five minutes later medics arrived. By then Suma had caught up brought the one I had under genjutsu. I released him, and he assisted us with caring for his comrades. The medics brought stretchers and carried the injured out.

I walked over to last remaining Sand member. "Sorry about all that. We hadn't needed to injure anybody this entire time. And if you hadn't hidden from Suma, you wouldn't have gotten hurt."

"Don't worry," he said quietly. "It's part of the risk of these things. It's expected that you'll get injured. They knew this."

"Yeah but I still feel sorry for having hurt them so bad, and about you having to endure my genjutsu. By the way, what did you think of the endless maze?"

"It was interesting. The traps were annoying, but none of them would have been lethal. Why?"

"Because the purpose is stalling, not killing. It's supposed to distract a person long enough to get away."

"Oh."

"Well, good match but I gotta get going."

"Okay."

We went our separate ways. "So, let's get going." Suma and Tatsuki joined me and we headed back to the base.

Once we arrived the sensei's gave a speech about the importance of inter village relationships, they then congratulated us for winning, despite being first years.

When all of the ceremonies were done, the Sand ninja began their trek back to their own village and we walked out to celebrate.

"Ichiraku's sound good?" I asked the two of them.

"We go there all the time," groaned Tatsuki. "Anywhere else."

"Come on. It's a great place."

"I don't care. I know you're in charge while we're in battle, but right now we're back to square one. We go somewhere else, or we break now. Your choice."

After a long argument we agreed to go somewhere else. We went to a barbecue place that Suma liked.

When we had finished eating I said, "Well I'm gonna get going and break the good news to mom and dad. See you in two days when we meet up with sensei for our next mission."

"Yeah, whatever." Tatsuki was still miffed about the argument we had earlier.

"See you then," Suma said.

I ran off towards my house. _I can't wait to tell them we won. _I thought to myself.


End file.
